Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands

Burger King India

Finance and I

• Why Finance and I mix?

Finance is an amazing function which is focused on providing the resources everyone needs to do their job well. It’s as much strategic as it is operational. Knowing where to invest begins with understanding of the industry, strategic priorities, and the organisational needs. So, it requires one to always have a long term perspective.

On the operational side; getting the organisation to move forward involves constantly evaluating what we have achieved versus where we want to go. What gets measured gets done. What gets done gets rewarded and what gets rewarded gets repeated!

So, Finance is a common thread for the entire business and what I love about it, is the all-encompassing role of the discipline.

• Motto I live my quarters by: It’s never about the quarters; it’s about the long term!

• Being CFO to me means: You are the co-pilot & you are the navigator. The opportunity to maximise shareholder value lies with the CFO. The challenge as well as the beauty of the job is balancing the ownership aspect of the role, while being the conscience keeper.

• When I switch any company I would like to be remembered for: Clear direction, good team and robust processes.

• Leadership goals: I focus on the purpose or the "why" of what's being accomplished, empowering my team with a shared vision and strong values so that they can excel. Many of those who have worked with me are now CFOs & controllers in their own right. My goal is to develop people into top-class finance leaders who appreciate all aspects of the business.

I focus on the purpose or the 'why' of what's being accomplished, empowering my team with a shared vision and strong values so that they can excel.

Learnings

• What leader/mentor do you look up to and why: At the start of my career, I had the privilege to work with Manu Anand, the then CEO of PepsiCo. I was impressed by his clarity of thoughts and humility. Despite his strategic role and stature, he knew every detail of the business and drove execution unbelievably well.

• One thing I still want to learn: There are so many things. Maybe, how to speak French and play the keyboard. I am forever a student of life.

• Most over rated financial advice: Diversification

• My mantra for adapting for change: You don’t have a choice!

In the War Zone

What was the toughest decision you had to make in your role as a CFO?

There are times when one needs to take tough calls and the toughest ones are inevitably about people. Employees are our greatest brand ambassadors within the organisation or when they move outside. Every such decision has to be handled with a lot of sensitivity.

What is the most challenging thing you faced in your current role? What is your biggest learning in these VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguous) times?

Having worked earlier with fairly huge organisations, the experience of VUCA got magnified for me while creating a start-up and rapidly scaling it up.

I learnt that you cannot prepare yourself for all the risks in the context of uncertainty. Speed is the important element. We should make mistakes, but we should make them fast and learn even faster. But with all the ambiguity; it’s important to display integrity of purpose and behaviour, which will win support. One should stay informed, grounded and connected to others who offer unique perspectives.

Secondly, CFOs responsibility has become more critical to hedge the organisation against volatility. As organisations evolve, we have to build stronger checks and balances in controls to tackle the complexity. Further, we can’t always be wedded to a plan and need to continuously review impact of competitive action, cost parameters and inflation – which are key parameters in consumer businesses.

Finally, execution is the key. We need to see our plan through and if that plan needs to change then we need to see the revised plan through!

How do you wish to transform the CFO’s role in the future?

The essence of the role will remain the same, but it would be far more technology oriented. CFOs have to build knowledge on future developments — the cloud, the Internet of Things and where the technological application is heading in the industry.

While already seen as strategic partners; CFOs are now also becoming enablers of growth through application of their analytical skills. Also, increasing globalisation means, finance function needs to work effectively to match global standards.

Do you feel that with current scenario of digital transformation your business metrics have changed? How?

Speed has increased manifold. Manner in which consumers engage with brands has changed because of use of mobile and social media. We are measuring our speed to market in delivery business through technology. Sales happen through many different channels and all of the data needs to be pulled together cohesively.

On compliance front, the government taxation system is getting digitalised, which means the back-end systems have to be efficient and integrated. Implementations of all of these are important metrics’ for success of today’s organisation.

Have you transformed into a Digital CFO yet?

Today, without IT, finance can’t function. An organisation’s IT strategy is an important component of its growth strategy. We are using digital tech to ensure transparency and accessibility of information to stakeholders and tracking of business metrics.

A lot of things are now available live on mobile to our teams – for example, real time sales. We use IT to build repeat business from consumers. We have integrated with our key vendors to build efficiency.

Our financial systems are integrated with our operating systems. Lot of analytics is used by finance teams to continuously monitor sales mix across products and geographies and its impact on the P&L – all this needs robust IT tools.

Prized possession from first salary

Favourite Book/ Movie

My comfort food/activity

Grilled fish/Running

How am I chupparustam?/One thing no one knows about me?

I write poetry in Hindi

If you were Dilbert?

While Dilbert might be good fun to read, I don't subscribe to Dilbert's non-questioning satirical ways. You should enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy. It's important to gel with bosses & colleagues

What are the top three things on your bucket list?

1. Be Published; 2. Travel extensively and explore all continents (Yet to discover South America & Antarctica); 3. Build a collaborative web site on finance/strategy

What is one truth you believe in that most people disagree with you on?

My value system is a little old school. Some youngsters might not agree with it.

What specific mental, physical, emotional and/or spiritual activities do you engage in to keep yourself operating at your optimum level?

Yoga on weekdays/Squash on weekends. Most importantly, I love playing Badminton with my son.